A new generation of internet entrepreneurs

Switched-on, innovative and tech-savvy.

Our theory is that Gen-Y entrepreneurs are starting businesses younger and in more diverse fields than their predecessors, all thanks to shortcuts afforded by the internet.

By providing ubiquitous access to a global marketplace, connections to international suppliers, like-minded individuals and mentors, and of course a plethora of information, the internet is enabling young people to dip their toes in the entrepreneurial pool – and they’re making pretty big waves.

The poster boy for internet entrepreneurship, Mark Zuckerberg, concocted his internet game-changer at the tender age of 20. Facebook has subsequently swallowed up the world, earning its founder a tidy US$14.7 billion. [Read: The origins of Facebook. ]

Other social media kingpins include David Karp, who started Tumblr at age 21, and Matthew Mullenweg, who founded WordPress at 19.

And who could forget the young guns who recently sold their smartphone app Instagram for US$1 billion?

Thinking about these young business gurus can be depressing for us mere mortals who spent our 20^th years juggling the regular demands of the uni life.

Young rich: L to R Instagram engineer & co-founder Mike Krieger, engineer Shayne Sweeney, CEO & co-founder Kevin Systrom & community manager Josh Riedell. Picture from SMH.com.au

But there are success stories that are slightly more relatable: young people teaming up with software developers to make apps, or simply relocating traditional businesses online, setting up online fashion stores and distribution systems and sourcing their suppliers - you guessed it - over the internet.

In the course of the next several weeks, we will endeavour to unravel this phenomenon and dig up fascinating stories about young people who’ve made a mint over the internet.